


if I live through this (I can do anything)

by wearethewitches



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Character Death Fix, Family, Fanboy Phil Coulson, Fix-It, Gen, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Heavy Angst, Infinity Gems, Intersex Loki (Marvel), Magic-Users, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), SHIELD, Skye | Daisy Johnson Feels, Skye | Daisy Johnson Needs a Hug, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 14:17:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14916950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearethewitches/pseuds/wearethewitches
Summary: When the time stone is used to alter the Bifrost, some time after the Snap and bare weeks after Phil Coulson dies, Thor, Loki and Daisy Johnson travel into the past in an attempt to change what happened.Thor and Loki's goal: to stop the Infinity War (and maybe Ragnarok too, if it's possible).Daisy's goal, though?Her only true concern?Saving Phil Coulson.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is now a Thing. If you'd like to read some angsty PhilnDaisy fic that I consider canon in this ficverse, go read my most recent AoS fic: 'families come in all shapes and sizes'.
> 
> commentary and ideas for this fic are appreciated, btw, honestly - i write as i post, usually, so like...i don't plan ahead much. i haven't for this, anyway, so lol, i'm screwed but i'll do it eventually. i have my outline so YEAH IT'LL BE FINE.

When they land – crash-land, that is – Daisy is the second on her feet. She staggers, inner balance swinging. It’s like she’s spun around and around in circle and now, her organs feel like they’re inside-out. However, it all quickly fades and she feels all the vibrations around them, an especially large one rippling around them. Daisy physically looks around, seeing the damage that their Timefrost – their strange, Time Stone-whammied Bifrost – has created in the ground, trees knocked down around them.

Thor draws away from Loki, who still lies on the dirt, blue complexion momentarily alarming Daisy before she moves to help her ally up. Thor grabs her wrist, instead, stopping her.

“Don’t touch him,” he warns quietly as Loki twists on the ground, dry-heaving. “The magics have left him weak. Not even his shapeshifting is holding.”

“Right,” Daisy mutters, not knowing what that means. Withdrawing, she looks to the markings in the ground again, the pattern familiar – the pictures of other markings she’s seen in the past of Thor’s landing spots had the same design. _It’s the Bifrost,_ she thinks, now knowing the truth of it. The ripple is of vibration around them is still holding strong as it moves outwards. _We’re going to be pinpointed if it’s strong enough to be detected by sensors._

“Brother,” Thor says, crouching by Loki, brow creased with worry. “Brother, how long until I can touch you?”

“Not soon,” Loki replies, voice barely more than a hiss of air, barely audible in the thunder. He curls up on the ground, a layer of frost ranging out from where he lays. Daisy frowns, wondering if this is normal, before a crack of thunder has her looking up, the lightning that follows illuminating the sky and also revealing the quinjet in the sky.

“Shit,” Daisy mutters, wondering it they saw them appear. _We don’t need that right now._ “Where and when did you send us, Loki?”

“To a moment we wouldn’t be noticed,” Thor says on his behalf, tense, looking up at the sky. “My power is what guides that storm. This is before the battle against the chitauri- _there!_ ” He points and Daisy squints, seeing the faintest of blurs shooting off into the night. “That is I with my brother. Tony shall follow at any moment.”

Thor’s right, of course. Daisy sees the tell-tale burn of Iron Man less than ten seconds later.

“Well, what happens now? What do we do?” Daisy tries to think, panicking. “Is Phil already dead?”

“No, he yet lives,” Thor reaches out, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. Lightning flashes above them, illuminating his face, blue eye bright in the dark and his axe impressive over his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll save him before that can happen.”

“Thank-you, for this,” Daisy can’t help but say. “Thank-you.” Her hand comes up to grip his wrist and they share a solid moment before Loki forces himself up onto his feet.

“Enough. We must get on that quinjet.”

“We shouldn’t move from our position,” Thor says, hand falling to his side. Daisy shivers as a cold breeze billows past them in a sudden rush. “It will do us no good to interrupt the confrontation in person. My younger self is still feeling the effects from father’s dark magic.”

“Anger, pain,” Loki says, “You didn’t ever do well with either of those.”

“I’ve learnt how to deal with it,” Thor ends that conversation, before taking his axe from his back. “I shall give the quinjet reason to come to us. Stormbreaker shall help me.” Sparks grow from his hands, crackling and popping. Daisy takes more than a few steps back as he raises his axe, short lightning strikes rising up into the air, one after the other.

“Don’t wear yourself out,” she says, peering into the sky, trying to find the quinjet again – but it’s flown on since she last saw it. When the continual flashes of light begin to bother her eyes, Daisy looks back at Loki, who sways where he stand, still so very _blue_.

The frost around him still exists, stretching out minutely as the seconds go by. Quite honestly though, past the alien skin colour and red eyes, he looks like shit. Loki looks two seconds from collapsing and apparently, they can’t touch him. Daisy eyes the ground again. _Maybe we get hypothermia from close contact. Thor said something about shapeshifting._

“Are all Asgardians like you?” she questions the sorcerer. Loki glances her way, brow furrowing.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Are all Asgardians like you?” Daisy repeats, motioning to him, “All…blue and frosty.”

“I…no, not at all. I am Thor’s adoptive brother – I am from Jotunheim, a frozen planet inhabited by Jotuns or Frost Giants, as their often called.”

“Huh,” Daisy tries to imagine it. She wonders if it’s like international adoption, taking orphans from other countries and giving them a better life. “So, intergalactic adoption is thing? That’s cool.”

Loki’s lip twitches, like he’s trying to contain a smile. “My circumstances are unique, as far as I’m aware. I didn’t know I was a Frost Giant, growing up.”

“… _how?_ ” Daisy demands, “You’re _blue._ ”

“I’m a shapeshifter. I obviously mimicked others around me,” Loki says, “and as I grew, I had no idea I had this form to change back into. I have never been as drained as I am now, however and the… _upkeep_ , was obviously too much. I feel…” Loki licks his lips, grasping for the words, “hollow.”

Daisy thinks of when she still had an inhibitor, before Fitz pulled it out of her neck. She thinks of not being able to control the powers she could still feel under her skin, in her bones. _Hollow_ isn’t a word she’d use to describe it. Her powers were there, but inaccessible. That isn’t what Loki is feeling – his powers are drained so much they’re pulling power from other places.

“When you have enough magic, are you going to shapeshift into your normal skin, then?”

“Something like that,” Loki says, before the lightning stops. Daisy glances at Thor, then at the sky. The quinjet is nowhere in sight. “What?” Loki verbally prods.

“…incoming,” Thor says, tossing Stormbreaker from his right hand to his left before pushing Daisy away abruptly. She flies through the air, falling down against an uprooted tree just as Thor himself – the younger version, the prince of Asgard, not the _king_ – lands in front of them. Loki backs away into the opposite fallen trees as the two Gods of Thunder regard each other, Daisy moving into a crouch, staying out of sight as she sees the other, younger Loki, too getting up out of the dirt by Prince Thor’s side.

“Who are you? Why do you take my form?” Prince Thor questions. His hair is long and shifts in the breeze, red cloak pristine and magnificent. Compared to King Thor, there’s a certain _new age vs eternal warrior_ feel to the clearing and of course, neither Thor takes their eyes off the other, despite how the younger Loki has quite obviously seen his older self _and_ Daisy, too.

“There is much to discuss,” King Thor says, finally looking away from his younger self to Young Loki, who stands at Prince Thor’s side, back straight and eyes narrowed. Daisy wonders if she’ll be any help here and looks to Loki the Elder for direction as King Thor speaks. He shakes his head, hands flat. _Stay down,_ his actions say and Daisy follows them, not really wanting to get into a fight right now, not when her back hurts from Thor _throwing her into a tree._

“Answer my questions,” Prince Thor demands, thunder crackling. A small smile tugs at King Thor’s lips.

“I do not wish to fight. I wish to talk. I am on a diplomatic mission from the future with my brother, Prince Loki of the people of Asgard and the Lady Quake of Midgard.”

“What was the point in tossing me over here if you’re just going to introduce us?” Daisy immediately questions, standing up straight. Thor glances at her, contrite.

“Sorry. I’m kind of making this up as I go along. My younger self is in a bad mood. Also, Iron Man is about to attack us.”

“Who is about-” Prince Thor starts, before being blown back by numerous miniature missiles, Iron Man swooping down to hover in the air above them all, full arsenal aimed at them.

“ _That was for taking my stuff, Goldilocks_ ,” he says, voice distorted by the armour. “ _Who are you guys and this time, don’t try the bullshitting._ ”

King Thor grins at the Avenger, “Tony.” Then, of course, his younger counterpart comes up swinging and a fight begins. Daisy is quick to go over to Young Loki, herding him towards his older self. King Thor joins them and they sit down on a tree-trunk, watching Iron Man and Thor beat it out.

“What is wrong with you?” Young Loki asks himself.

Loki the Elder shrugs from his position on the end, Young Loki to his right, then Daisy and then King Thor. “It took too much of me to bring us here. I will _not_ be doing that again.”

“Let’s hope you don’t have to,” Daisy says, flinching back as Iron Man throws Prince Thor back. There’s a pause in the stand-off, then, as Prince Thor actually _speaks_ rather than fights.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”

“ _Shakespeare in the park?_ ” Iron Man quips. “ _Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?_ ”

Daisy lets out a snort of laughter, King Thor giggling at the joke, whacking Daisy’s arm lightly. The fighters look over at them, Prince Thor obviously far from amused.

“ _You like my jokes?_ ” Iron Man questions, obviously surprised.

“Mother is alive,” Loki the Elder then says, King Thor’s laughter dying abruptly. Silence fills the clearing. “We have to stop Malekith.”

“…he hasn’t awoken, yet,” King Thor says, almost hesitant as he looks over both Daisy and Young Loki’s head to his blue-fied brother. “Until the Alignment of the Realms, he shall not be found.”

“We _can_ find him,” Loki snarls, true anger leaking through his voice. “I won’t have it happening the same way again!”

“Enough,” Prince Thor interrupts, a strange quaver to his voice. “The things you talk of make no sense. Why are you even here?”

“We’re here to save the universe,” Daisy says, “But first we need to secure the Tesseract and the Mind Stone. They’re the two Infinity Stones that we can actually get our hands on, soon. Thanos is coming for them.”

“How do you know of Thanos?” Young Loki questions, taken-aback. He looks to his older self. “Are you truly my elder counterpart?”

“I am indeed,” Loki the Elder smiles, “What you have gone through under his thumb is nothing compared to the torment and heartbreak you shall go through. Mother shall die. Father shall die. Asgard shall be shorn from the sky and then so shall what remains of its people.”

“ _You’re really taking this seriously,_ ” Iron Man cuts in, “ _What are you, a LARPer? The kid beside you is a criminal._ ”

“I’m fully aware of what he’s done – I did it, in my timeline,” Loki says. “The last time I saw you, Man of Iron, you were helping create the device that would send us back. You would not join us. The shame that filled you, the grief and despair for losing the Spider under your care, it consumed you. Your penance was helping rebuild the world that we left behind, if it still existed. We had some…interesting conversations about the nature of time.”

“ _Spider? What, Natashalie?_ ”

“Not that Spider,” King Thor says, “I unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet him.”

“Spiderman was really young, supposedly,” Daisy cuts in, “like, some people thought he was your kid or something after he got that suit upgrade.”

“ _I do not have a kid. What are you even on? God, that’s a terrifying though, me with a kid. Ugh._ ”

“What’s terrifying,” comes a new voice, “is what I’m hearing.” Daisy looks across the clearing, where she had been thrown before. Captain America stands there in his colourful glory and Daisy, for a moment, is that twenty-one year old fangirl who stood under Stark Tower in red, white and blue. _Coulson must had a heart-attack when he saw his idol like this,_ Daisy thinks, standing up, fidgeting.

“Hi!” she says, surprised at how star-struck she actually is, how _excited_ this meeting makes her. _Coulson’s enthusiasm rubbed off on me_. “You’re Captain America. Oh my god, this is so- so _cool!_ You’re _Captain America!_ ” Daisy grins, reaching to grab Thor’s arm, shaking the Asgardian-shaped puppy, who is as equally smiley at his appearance – or maybe just her enthusiasm. “Why did I never get to meet him in the future?”

“Stark and Rogers broke up,” Loki the Elder says dryly, as if he and Stark _totally_ didn’t kiss each other goodbye before they went through the Timefrost.

“I know that,” Daisy replies, quieter, “I just meant- he wasn’t around. It would have been cool to meet him. I could have got like, an autograph or something.” _I could have put a copy on Phil’s grave. He would have liked that, even if he wouldn’t have any use for it as a corpse_

“Aren’t you supposed to be a superhero as well?” Loki the Elder asks in good humour.

Daisy rolls her eyes, pointing at the stationary Captain America, far calmer than she was with her dark thoughts. “He’s a national icon and even born on the fourth of July.”

“ _And that’s not creepy at all,_ ” Iron Man says, before he walks over to Prince Thor, putting out his hand to shake, visor rising. “Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man. Obviously, you’ve got some drama to sort out and Loki over there kind of stole our Cube, so we want that back.”

“Loki will face Asgardian justice for his crimes,” Prince Thor says stubbornly, side-eyeing the outstretched hand. “I will take him and leave with the Cube.”

“No can-do on that one, the Cube is ours,” Stark says, wiggling his hand. “Can we come to some kind of agreement? Preferably quickly?”

“We’ll come quietly,” King Thor says, “the four of us, at least. I don’t know about baby Thor.”

“I’m not a baby,” Prince Thor denies, disturbed.

“You’re a baby,” King Thor shakes his head. “It’s alright. I know it’s hard to accept the truth, but you have so far to go, yet. You’re half-baked, not ready…”

“Stop teasing him, Thor,” Loki the Elder sighs and Daisy frowns, because his voice sounds strange. She looks at Loki and leans closer, away from Young Loki but still closer, so as to recheck what she’s seeing – because what she’s _seeing_ can’t be true. “He’s not your brother.”

“No, you are,” King Thor says, before pausing, “Well, you _sometimes_ are.”

Loki the Elder – _Lady_ Loki – smiles, winking at Daisy as she gapes at the goddess. Loki is somehow female. _Shapeshifter,_ Daisy remembers, taken-aback. _She still looks like shit, but…she’s a **she**._

“Wait a second,” Tony Stark points, “weren’t you a guy? And blue?”

Lady Loki isn’t far removed from her male self. She has alabaster skin, dark hair, the same large forehead, slanted jaw and thin lips, but the rest of her is proportionally different – there are different curves and even her clothes have moulded to match.

“You got enough magic to change, then?” Daisy questions, still not quite back into focus. Lady Loki shrugs, silent as she taps her nails on her knee, raising an eyebrow at Prince Thor, who frowns at her. Daisy notices how her hands are smaller, fingers just as long but somehow more delicate than before, that there are dark bags under her eyes and still, she sways slightly as she sits – still weak and shaking.

“Why?” the young Asgardian asks. “I have not see you like that for years.”

“I do what I like,” Lady Loki says, watching him but distant from his question. Daisy can see it – how the measure of her investment in him is different from that of her investment in King Thor. “If _your_ sibling wants to, that is their own business.”

“I’m still stuck on the transformation bit,” Stark says, before the quinjet flies overhead slowly. “That’s our ride. Coming, Barbie?”

“He’s coming,” Daisy says, before the quinjet speakers come online, projecting a female voice.

“ _I can’t land here, it’s too crowded. What’s happening down there?_ ”

Captain America raises his voice, “We’re going to have some extra passengers on board! Stark’s bringing some of them now!” Captain America gives Stark a look, the billionaire’s visor flipping back down before he marches over to Daisy, offering an arm.

Hesitant, Daisy steps up onto the foot of the armour, holding on to some grooves as he flies up. The Iron Man armour is hard and surprisingly cool – she’d have thought it would be warm, seeing as it’s machinery. Her grip strengthens as they get up into the air, but luckily the flight into the quinjet is short, even if they have to wait a moment for the ramp to lower. Once inside, Daisy takes a look around, noting the small, confined space and old-fashioned SHIELD logo stamped onto everything.

“Who are you?” the pilot questions from her seat.

“…Quake,” Daisy replies, remembering how Thor introduced her. “Lady Quake, if you ask the king. What about you?”

“Black Widow.”

“Really?” Daisy steps further into the plane, curious as to what the mysterious Natasha Romanov is like in the here and now. She’s met Natasha of the future, who lives in the Avengers compound and is more interested in looking after her godson than doing literally _anything_ else – except perhaps making sure Clint isn’t running himself ragged, grief turning him into someone who would rather train all day and do Avengers work than be within a hundred yards of his only living child.

Then though, the two Loki’s are brought up, Lady Loki wrapping an arm around her younger self’s shoulders as he questions her, distracting Daisy.

“Did Thanos catch you?” he questions.

“In a way. To be fair, I wasn’t very conspicuous, flying around with over four thousand Aesir refugees,” Lady Loki says breezily. “I played my part, pretended to die. He was too focused on his goal to bother checking.”

 _I know this,_ Daisy thinks, remembering Thor telling his side of the story. _Loki appeared one day with Valkyrie, Sif and two dozen Asgardians, including six children, without a care in the world._

Daisy clears her throat however, interrupting their conversation before Natasha- _no, the Black Widow_ , can hear anything more. “You might want to get buckled in.”

Lady Loki and Young Loki look at her and if Daisy hadn’t known better, she’d have said they were twins. Side by side like this, though, lets her see the change Lady Loki went through more easily. Their shoulders are the same width, but her hips are wider. They both have the same colour of hair, but Young Loki’s is shorter, around his shoulders compared to Lady Loki’s, which tumbles down her back and around her shoulders in heavy curls, tickling her elbows.

At Daisy’s words, Lady Loki nods.

“Of course, Lady Quake.”

Nodding in return, Daisy sits down herself, thinking on what is to come. The original Avengers are barely formed, only now meeting Thor and Hawkeye is under Loki’s control somewhere, the Mind Stone curling through his mind and taking away his freedom. Daisy knows they’re heading for the Helicarrier, now – they have to be.

_Phil is on the Helicarrier._

She hears the Black Widow radioing quietly to SHIELD, telling them that four potential hostiles have joined them and that circumstances are rather strange. Daisy almost snorts. _Two Thor’s, two Loki’s – one of which being in female form – and a rando human with a superhero name. Or a villain name, I suppose._

Iron Man flies both King Thor and Captain America up, then, Prince Thor joining them via his flying hammer. Daisy catches King Thor giving his younger counterpart a small face that looks suspiciously like a pout as his hair flutters in the breeze, barely sparing a glance for Mjolnir. Daisy has heard that story too.

 _I spent a lot of time listening to stories,_ Daisy thinks, remembering her time in the compound in those last few weeks. May had been there, too, probably to keep Daisy from going to visit her mother again – Daisy and Lian May got on _too_ well for Melinda May’s liking. Daisy and William got around that by skyping, rather than visiting in person; Lian was always too stingy about being traced electronically to use the web, unlike her ex-husband, who revelled in ‘such attention’.

Thor had liked regaling her with his adventures. Daisy, originally having gone to the compound to tell Natasha and Clint about Phil’s life after his supposed death, ended up becoming good friends with the king. She doesn’t know his favourite colour, but she knows his favourite kind of pop-tart is strawberry and he can make her coffee the way she likes it – usually right when she needs it before the sun rises and she does tai chi with May.

It helps that both of them are at least aware that the other has a sad past, enough for them to bond. Thor once said she was lucky to still have May. Daisy had agreed.

“Okay, strap in, we’re going up,” Natasha orders, slowly rising in height, picking up speed. Daisy leans back in her seat and thinks of Phil, alive on the helicarrier.

She hopes she can save him.


	2. Chapter 2

Steel. Grates. Glass windows looking into labs. The route to the conference room they’ve been invited to inhabit meanders through at least three floors of the helicarrier they’re on and all the while, Daisy can feel them being watched. Even Young Loki’s meagre protestations at being imprisoned doesn’t distract her from the overwhelming Big Brother feeling.

It probably doesn’t help that she’s spotted at least half a dozen Hydra agents pretending to be SHIELD lackeys. Or maybe that’s why Daisy’s so _paranoid._

Reaching over to King Thor, she entwines their hands, putting her fingers to her lips as she uses her powers gently on the palm of his hand. _Don’t tell anyone about my powers,_ she wants to say, hoping the message gets through. He frowns, but nods in understanding, squeezing back, not letting go.

Natasha opens a black door with her handprint, holding it for them as they enter a well-lit, barren, rectangular room, a dining table – a meeting table – standing solitary in the middle with ten chairs around it. There are no windows, but there is a projector and a roll-down screen on the ceiling.

“If you’d like to take a seat.”

“Our thanks,” Lady Loki nods cordially as she slinks in behind King Thor, Prince Thor at her back, lingering in the doorway briefly before Natasha addresses him.

“Would you rather be separated from the group?”

“I…” Prince Thor hesitates, looking between the three of them as they settle themselves on one side of the room, Loki draping herself over the chair at the end of the table and Thor laying Stormbreaker against the wall. “I am not sure.”

“We’re watching, if they cause trouble, we’ll know,” she assures, before shutting the door on him, forcing Prince Thor to step forwards unless he wanted his cape to be trapped. The _click_ of the door closing is the only sound in the silence, until Prince Thor scrapes back a chair to sit at on the opposite, far end of the table from them.

 _I wonder how long we’ll have to wait,_ Daisy wonders, shifting in her chair.

They sit for a long time. Loki takes a nap, curling her legs up on the seat with her. King Thor looks at her fondly and Daisy realises the table is dusty enough for them to play noughts and crosses. When they run out of dust, Prince Thor tentatively speaks, asking if she wishes to play Truths and Lies.

Loki’s eyes open slowly. “I did not realise you were so desperate to relive such traumatic memories,” she drawls, glancing at Daisy. “Thor is terrible at it, usually. He’s gotten better, but he once tried to lie about catching the biggest sea dragon in all of Alfheim and losing it when he got distracted by his fellow fisherman’s joke.”

“How did you know it was a lie?” Daisy questions as both Thor’s groan her name in unison.

“I asked the sea dragon’s name,” Loki grins, catlike, “and in his panic, he called it _Jörmungandr._ ”

“Enough,” Prince Thor moans, “it was a terrible lie! I know! You’ve held it over my head for _years_ , sister!”

“I agree, stop bringing it up,” King Thor says, before clearly blackmailing her as Daisy wonders what a _Jörmungandr_ is, “or I’ll tell Quake of the _Lokasenna._ ”

Loki sits up, feet on the ground, saying “You wouldn’t _dare._ ” But Daisy can tell she’s unsure, eyes locked on her brother, who smirks.

“I would.”

“Odin bade none speak of it.”

King Thor crosses his arms, the triumphant sibling. “I am the King of Asgard. The laws and vows Odin wrought upon me no longer apply, unlike you.”

Loki gnashes her teeth, snapping, “Very true. Release me, then.”

“And why would I do that?” King Thor says, amused. Loki goes to reply, obviously caring much more than her brother does, but the door to the room opens, admitting Nick Fury – the current Director of SHIELD, Daisy realises.

“Welcome to Earth. Now, does someone want to explain what is going on here?” he demands. “We’ve had dealings with Thor before – _this_ Thor,” Fury points at Prince Thor, “and he seemed as confused as my people on who you all are. I’m happy letting him leave this room to go talk business; but _you_ three…”

“We’re here to save the universe,” King Thor says, sombre. “A great force is coming, a Titan – the _last_ Titan, for he let all the others be destroyed – who will gather the Infinity Stones and place them within the Infinity Gauntlet. When he snaps his fingers, half the citizens of the universe will cease to exist.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“And that sounds _completely_ plausible,” Fury says, rolling his eye. “And of course, you protected your brother. Sister. Sibling. Whatever the fuck Loki goes by.”

“Sibling is fine,” Loki says, lips pursed. “Thank-you for the consideration.”

“If you really are from the future, you better well have served some time or gotten some kind of punishment for the crap you pulled in the last few days,” Fury says, glaring at her.

“Loki was let out on good behaviour,” King Thor says, “with the added condition that she help me save the universe. She held up her end, to a degree.”

“A degree? What, she fail?” Fury motions to her, “Did she convince this Titan dude not to kill _everyone?_ ”

“Oh no,” Loki interrupts, “This was a different universe-ending event. We prevented _Malekith_ from killing everyone and destroying all the stars in existence. There are many things that happen before Thanos invades and conquers in his rampage to retrieve the Stones.”

“Including the destruction of Asgard, apparently.” Fury then turns to Prince Thor, who had been silent through their entire conversation. “What do you think about all this?”

Prince Thor shakes his head. “There do exist magics that could aid them in travelling through time, but I am not the one to ask.”

“Who is, then?”

“Me.”

King Thor sighs. “You _really_ think that helps us now, sister?”

Loki shrugs. “Tony and I were the ones to create the device that helped bring us here. His mind might have been fraying at the edges after the Infinity War, but he can’t exactly help our case, either. My younger self could at least provide some semblance of a reference to what I achieved.”

“What you and Tony achieved,” King Thor corrects.

“He gave himself twelve percent credit,” Loki dismisses. “It was my magic that brought us here.”

“Enough,” Daisy interrupts, abruptly remembering when May did the same, that time she and Yo-Yo were fighting. Distracted for a moment, she shakes herself back into the present and speaks, feeling more like Jemma or maybe even Fitz as she orders them about. “Stop talking. The more we change things, the more unpredictable the timeline becomes. This isn’t like last time.”

“Last time?” Fury questions. Daisy meets his single eye, briefly wondering if she should – before she decides it doesn’t matter. It’ll never happen now, if she has any say in it.

“I and my family were thrown into the future and trapped in a time loop of sorts. It’s complicated.” Daisy doesn’t shrug, doesn’t move. She sets her shoulders, Fury breaking first, looking away from her, at King Thor and then Prince Thor.

“What are you to them?” he asks. “A friend? Family?”

“We only met a couple of weeks ago,” Daisy says, voice flat. She keeps staring at him, the pressure forcing herself into that mindset of an agent – the mindset May taught her, that she’ll keep up to scratch, because she’s never going to see May again. _It’s like she died,_ she thinks, heart fluttering in her chest at the thought, the truth finally setting in. _I’ve left everyone behind. I’m alone again. Truly alone._ Even reminding herself that she has Thor and Loki doesn’t do much – it’s true. She’s only met them recently. She could happily walk away and only wonder about them.

Fury looks at her with a tilt of his head, eyeing her suddenly. “How far in the future are you claiming to be from?”

“That’s irrelevant,” she says shortly. “We’re collecting all the Infinity Stones, so Thanos can’t. That’s your big picture. We’ve already given our reasons.”

 _I’m going to save Phil, too,_ she thinks. _I’ll stop him from ever being stabbed by Loki or anyone else in the first place. Maybe I can even get him to buck up and make out with May, or something._

“Right,” Fury says, nodding and crossing his arms. “So. Future people. Where’s the Tesseract?”

“How are we supposed to know?” Daisy asks him, instead. “I’m not even around yet. Thor _just_ arrived. Loki sent it off so he- they, wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

“Ask the archer, when he visits,” Loki chimes in, “I distinctly remember him attacking this vessel of yours. He very nearly succeeded in taking it down.”

“Barton? He’s coming here?” Fury unfolds his arms, serious, stepping closer to the table. “When?”

“My younger self is being tracked,” Loki informs him, “so very soon. Also, I would advise on giving the sceptre to my king – at this point, only he can keep it safe.”

 _That wasn’t the plan,_ Daisy glances at the goddess, but supposes Fury wouldn’t just hand it over to Loki.

“It’s in SHIELD custody now,” Fury says shortly. “When is Barton supposed to arrive?”

“Soon, give or take a few hours,” King Thor says, quieting Loki with simply a look. She defers, bowing her head, leaning back in her chair, twirling a strand of hair on her finger. Daisy looks to Prince Thor briefly, watching him watch his older self. “Unfortunately, my memory of this time is muddled, as memories have a habit of doing, so I cannot tell you anything more than-”

“Stop,” Daisy orders him and he stops speaking, looking to her. There’s a tense silence, before she speaks slowly, struggling to remember. “The…Council. A SHIELD Council. They’re going to do something. It’s out of our hands. We need everything to happen _as_ it happens. The Avengers need to figure things out on their own.”

“But we’ve already changed events,” Loki says, hand flat on the table. “We are _here_. We have told them about Barton.”

“I agree,” King Thor says quietly, looking to Daisy. “We must change the future drastically. I know are willing to do what is necessary. You want to save your father, even if it means losing your own future.”

“Past?” Daisy jokes weakly. “It’s kind of complicated now, isn’t it?” _No, no, no…why did you say that? Why, why, why?_ She looks to Lady Loki. “Would your past self still go along with his plans?”

“Maybe. It depends. Your father might not be in the same place at the same time, unless the Norns have a hand in it,” Lady Loki says, overly gentle. Daisy doesn’t _want_ gentle. She wants to move and _do_ something. She wants to stop Phil from ever getting _near_ Loki.

“Who is the Lady Quake’s father?” Prince Thor inquires, curious.

“That is not our business to divulge, but it is safe to say, the man is…special,” Loki says, lip twitching. Daisy looks to her hands, fiddling with her gauntlets as she remembers her Phil – her AC, her Director, her _dad_ who left behind adoption papers and a will before he went to spend his last days on a desert island with May. “He managed to make a mark on me, for one, before I gutted him. Then, of course, Director Fury here brought him back to life.”

 _Project_ _TAHITI_ , Daisy thinks, seeing Fury stiffen. In a small part of her mind, she’s amused by another line of thought. Project TAHITI was meant for fallen Avengers and while Fury obviously included Phil in that number, that still leaves at least four, if not five other candidates from the original Avengers team – Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton and Thor. _Fury will probably work it out though,_ she thinks, before there’s a knock on the door.

Daisy isn’t prepared to see Coulson when he enters.

“Sir, you’re wanted on the Bridge,” he says, looking to Prince Thor as the Asgardian perks up. “Thor.”

“Son of Coul,” Prince Thor greets. “How are you?”

“Well. You?”

“I am good, though it has been a trying day,” Prince Thor says, glancing at his older self, who likewise had straightened in his chair. Loki just stares at him and Daisy gets a creepy-crawly feeling over her back, but she forces herself not to react, even as she looks _anywhere_ but Phil. She’s not very successful.

 _He’s so young,_ she thinks, marvelling at the smiley face, still the same even years beforehand. He has less wrinkles and he’s wearing a suit for the first time Daisy’s seen in _years._ She finds herself swallowing down a lump in her throat and when her eyes start to sting, she crosses her arms on the table, putting her head down so no-one can see her face. _He’s alive._

She wants to cry like she cried at the funeral. She wants to hug him so tightly and sob into his arms. He’d hold her tight and comfort her, maybe even press a kiss to the top of her head. But he wouldn’t because this _isn’t her Phil._ This is Agent Coulson before everything. Before Monoliths, before Inhumans, before Hydra and before the Bus.

 _Before New York,_ she finishes, hearing him speak to King Thor.

“Are you really from the future?”

“Aye, that I am. A most horrible and treacherous future, but the future nonetheless. I am King of Asgard – or rather, an Asgard. I don’t quite have anyone to rule over anymore.”

“You have _me_ ,” Loki says, before correcting herself with a snicker, “Oh wait, I’m the rightful ruler of Jotunheim. No, you’re quite right, you don’t.”

“Thank-you, Loki,” King Thor says, obviously not appreciating the commentary. “Now shut up before I cut off your hair with Stormbreaker.”

“I’m a shapeshifter, I’d just grow it back.”

“Cut it out,” Daisy grumbles, voice muffled by her position. “Honestly, the _bickering_. I’m glad I don’t have siblings, if this is what it’s like.”

“And who might you be?” Phil questions and Daisy doesn’t look at him, hearing the door open and close as Fury leaves. She sits up again, fiddling once more with her gauntlets. _Don’t say anything, don’t say anything,_ she chants in her head, knowing she’ll probably start crying or something just as awful. “I’m Agent Coulson.”

“I know.” It slips out without her say-so. “You…you’re a family friend,” she says, struggling. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh.” Phil is silent for a moment. “Did I pass away?”

“In your sleep,” Daisy admits, remembering May’s cracking voice on the phone, saying that he’s gone.

“Was I really old?” he asks, chuckling.

“Really old,” Daisy replies, smiling, looking up and making eye contact. His smiling eyes make her heart beat happily, before Thor puts a supportive hand on her shoulder, patting it lightly. She looks to him, smile dying.

“We shall adjourn this meeting, no?” he successfully diverts. “You can fawn over the Captain again.”

“I wasn’t fawning,” Daisy immediately denies. “I was just… _excited._ ”

King Thor shakes his head with a chuckle, standing, putting Stormbreaker on his back and holding out a hand to Daisy, courteous as ever. “Milady.”

“Your Majesty,” she returns, allowing him to haul her up.

“I’m not sure you should leave,” Phil then says, a little alarmed. “Where are you going to go?”

“To see the Avengers, of course,” Loki says cheerily. “Their autographs will be worth something _mighty_ , later.”

And then they leave the room, Daisy only brushing Phil’s arm once, wishing it was anything but.


	3. Chapter 3

“Just for the record,” Dr Banner starts, “I don’t believe your story.”

“That’s fine, it’s a bit hay-wire,” Daisy says, but he shakes his head, crossing his arms.

“No, no – I _really_ don’t believe your story. Time travel is- time is constant, time can’t be changed.” Dr Banner says, pointing at them, “Now _dimension_ travel, _that_ I would believe.”

“It’s alright, Bruce,” King Thor says, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll realise the error of your thoughts eventually. I forgive you in advance.”

“Thanks, big guy,” Dr Banner says, obviously sarcastic. He steps away from King Thor, uncomfortable. Daisy watches the Asgardian’s face fall, then looks away, reaching forwards to grab the back of a chair, leaning on it.

Deciding that changing the subject would make things easier, Daisy clears her throat, gaining everyone’s attention. Gazes pierce her and here, her anonymity is a curse. _They might ignore me, they already distrust me as an outsider – an invader._ But Loki and Thor are right. They’ve already changed the timeline and it will only get worse the longer they stay. The smallest of changes can have the biggest of impacts.

_I’ve got to tell them the truth._

“The attack on New York destroyed a good chunk of Manhattan,” she begins. “The Avengers made the news globally, fighting aliens and closing the portal over Avengers Tower that they came through in the first place, via the Tesseract.”

“Stark Tower,” King Thor corrects. “The new name comes later.”

Tony Stark splutters, “ _Avengers Tower?_ Really?” He leans forwards, halfway between fascinated and annoyed. “It’s only just powered up, why would I change it?”

“Because it’s going to get trashed,” Daisy replies quickly, before continuing. “Everyone was a bit confused as to why a missile was flown into the portal by Iron Man, right before it closed, but I found out later that a SHIELD Council sent a nuke to blow up New York in the name of containing the alien threat.”

“A nuke? Are they _crazy?_ ” Stark demands. “SHIELD would be blown out of the water in the aftermath. What kind of people make those sorts of decisions?”

“The World Security Council,” Natasha states, gaining everyone’s attention. “I think.”

“She’s right and they would,” a new voice adds from the bullpen of computers. Daisy looks over, surprised to see Agent Hill.

“You’re here,” she says, surprised. Hill glances her way, eyebrow rising.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”

 _Fury’s right hand,_ Daisy thinks. “No reason. I was just…surprised. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“We’ve never met,” Hill says, before Steve Rogers finally speaks up, his silence finished.

“Who are you? You know Agent Hill and Agent Coulson, you’re friends with two aliens from outer space – what’s your real name, _Quake?_ ”

Daisy purses her lips. “That’s not your business. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Who I am isn’t…isn’t who my younger self is going to be.”

“Wait,” Stark interrupts, “you’re already born? Like, there’s a younger you running around? What time period are you even from? When’s your birthday?”

“July second,” Daisy replies. “Not that you’ll be able to track me down. I’m too well hidden.” Her lip twitches, imagining _Skye_ all the way in Chicago in her van, becoming more than your average hacker.

Stark _oohs_. “Secret baby? Who’s your daddy?”

Daisy doesn’t answer his question, instead skipping along from the Battle of Manhattan to future events. “Next year, Tony Stark’s Malibu mansion gets blown up and he goes missing. He turns up again, defeating a terrorist called the Mandarin and saving the president, too. Weird stuff happens next that happened with Thor and Asgard.”

“The realms aligned,” King Thor says, “and the location of the Reality Stone was discovered by Jane Foster by accident. It infected her, hid inside her body and the Dark Elf, Malekith, hunted for it. He wanted to return the universe to darkness, using the alignment as a way to simultaneously destroy all light in all the Nine Realms. We defeated him and the Reality Stone was hidden away with a man in the outer galaxies, known as the Collector. Unfortunately, he was later besieged by Thanos, the Mad Titan and the Reality Stone was taken.”

“Our mother died in the conflict with Malekith,” Lady Loki adds. “Protecting Jane. She was returned to starlight and took her place in Valhalla.”

“SHIELD had to clean up the mess left behind in Greenwich,” Daisy continues after a moment of silence. Loki and Thor both stay silent as she speaks. “Later, some really fucked up things happened with SHIELD and Captain America, but basically, it ended with the Winter Soldier running off into the wild.”

“Who or what is a Winter Soldier?” Dr Banner questions, Natasha replying lowly.

“An assassin. A machine. Russian, like me – we’ve previously met, under trying circumstances,” she says. “What happened?”

“He broke from the clutches his captors held on his mind,” King Thor says, then. “He remembered that he was the man once known as Bucky Barnes.”

Rogers does a double-take, eyes widening, “Bucky?”

“Woah, what?” Stark blinks. “Bucky Barnes, the Howling Commando? Captain America’s best buddy?”

“I have no idea what really happened past the basics,” Daisy says, “but yeah, him. He was ashed in the Snap, later. Never got the chance to meet him.”

“We were briefly warriors in the same battle,” King Thor adds. “He was quite the formidable ally.”

“Yeah and after that, there was this…schism, in SHIELD,” Daisy says. “Enough that there was more than one organisation trying to say they were the ‘real SHIELD’. Other stuff happened that isn’t really relevant, but it is important, too.” _God, I’m going to have to explain Inhumans at some point,_ she thinks, before begging off. “I’ll tell you guys about that at another time. There’s too much to know.”

“It concerns Quake’s parents,” King Thor adds, however, prompting Daisy to give him a _look._ He ignores her, tapping his fingers on his folded arm.

“Then there was the Sokovia Crisis, I think,” Daisy says. “I wasn’t really paying attention to that stuff. I had my own problems. Thor wasn’t there, either. Stark created an AI called Ultron and it got loose, did a heap of bad shit with the Iron Legion – this super fancy group of robots that helped out with loads of stuff. Scarlet Witch and the Vision joined the team, after this disaster where a city was floated up into the sky and dropped. The Sokovia Accords were begun after that. There was a heap of political drama going on about controlling superheroes and Inhumans.”

“What’s an Inhuman?” Phil questions from his place across the room, leaning up against a wall. Daisy glances at him, smiling briefly.

“The Kree came to Earth a couple of thousand of years ago. They experimented on humans and gave them and all their descendants powers. Inhumans. Inhumans are…” Daisy looks around, looking at the faceless SHIELD agents at monitors and at doors. _How many are HYDRA?_ “Inhumans are metahumans, basically. Their powers can only be activated by using the Terrigen Mist. People have tried before to get their powers without it and it ended badly. Really badly.”

_And I’m lying through my teeth, but oh well. It probably happened at some point._

“Anyway,” Daisy shakes her head, “The news called it the Avengers Civil War, when the Accords were introduced. Team Cap versus Team Iron Man. To be honest, I don’t think it was as clear cut as everyone made it sound. Team Cap became fugitives, afterwards, unless they were caught.”

“Who was on which team?” Fury questions.

“I was a little busy at the time,” Daisy swallows, remembering _Hive_ and being drained of her blood and _controlled_. “Bad stuff happened,” she says, distant. She remembers that conversation though – where she told Hive about her name and her parents. _I told him I was glad Grant Ward was dead._ Her nose wrinkles.

“He’s not dead anymore,” she says, looking to King Thor. “Ward. He’s not dead.”

“Would you like me to kill him for you, Lady Quake?” King Thor says in all seriousness, the sky outside darkening. Daisy clenches her fists.

“Agent Ward?” Hill questions, confused. “Why would you want him dead?”

“A lot of reasons,” Daisy answers, but shakes her head, remembering the Ward of the Framework – the _good_ Grant Ward, who she would have gladly known and loved. “He could change.”

“Quake-”

“No. If he makes trouble, I’ll snap his neck myself – shooting him didn’t work, last time.” Daisy recalls Phil telling her how he killed Ward on Maveth, finally and grimaces. “Twice.”

“Could you stop threatening people?” Dr Banner asks, muttering, “What did he even _do_ in your dimension?”

“That’s a very long list,” King Thor rumbles. “Enough of Grant Ward and Bruce- Dr Banner,” the Asgardian pauses, voice lowering, “no offence meant, but you do not have the required knowledge to understand Infinity Stones. When we used the Time Stone, it was to travel _backwards_ , not across, sideways or diagonally. Loki has done all but one of these things.”

“I’m brilliant like that, you see,” Loki adds, a smirk curling across her lips.

“Cease thinking we are travellers from another dimension,” King Thor ends. “For we are not. There are three Infinity Stones yet on Earth. Thanos was arrogant and reckless when he sent my brother to Midgard with the Mind Stone.”

There’s a beat of silence, before Loki suddenly disappears from her chair, instead standing between Thor and Daisy, boredly checking her nails.

“What the hell was that? You were in the chair.”

“I was also in the laboratory retrieving my belongings, but that’s irrelevant,” Lady Loki brushes Stark’s exclamation off, looking to Daisy. “Thor and I are going to visit the warlocks of this world. We shall meet you in New York.”

“What-” Daisy starts, going to ask _what the hell does that mean?_ Then, of course, Loki and Thor disappear in a crackle of lightning – green lightning. _Did they just teleport out of here? Without me? What a bitch._ Daisy then looks to her surroundings, counting all her potential enemies.

 _I can’t take all of them,_ she thinks, itching to use her powers. She wants to blast the glass windows open, to escape and go up, to steal a quinjet or something. _They’d shoot me before I got ten feet._

“…I can explain,” Daisy says, rather than try leaving.

“Dr Banner,” Natasha rises from her seat, “I’d return to your lab.”

“No arguments from me,” the scientist says, backing away and going down a corridor, a pair of guards at his back. Daisy grits her teeth.

“I honestly had no idea they were going to do that.”

“I believe you,” Natasha says, taking out her gun. Daisy likewise arms herself, removing her singular ICER from her thigh. Daisy hopes she doesn’t have to fire it – she has finite ammo, here in the past. _It’s not like Fitzsimmons have invented it yet._ Around the room, gun after gun comes out, safeties clicking off. Daisy doesn’t waver, aiming at the Black Widow, the most likely to pop a shot off first, unless someone let one off by accident.

“Why don’t we just calm down here,” Captain America rises to the occasion, stepping towards her. “Ma’am, please lower the gun.”

“ICER,” Daisy corrects.

“…ICER,” Rogers says. “Put it down.”

“Listen, I’m not here to fight,” Daisy says, “All I want to do is stop Loki from stabbing someone and seeing as his future self just implied they stole the sceptre, that isn’t going to happen that way any more. I just…I want him to live. I don’t care if the rest of history repeats itself – I don’t give a damn. I just want him to live.”

Daisy shakes. The ICER wobbles in her grip and she’s going to _cry_ , damnit. _I’m not going to cry,_ she thinks, squeezing her eyes shut as she lowers her weapon, reholstering it. But then a hand presses around her shoulder and she reacts without thinking, punching the person in the chest, causing them to stumble back. It registers too late that her following quake-powered kick-back is aimed at Captain America, the national icon flying back with a small but solid boom, the air rippling as he crashes into one of the only bare walls on the bridge.

“Stand down!” Fury orders harshly and Daisy drops to her knees, putting her hands behind her head. Agent Hill doesn’t hesitate to rush over, along with several other armed SHIELD goons, manhandling her. Fury stomps over, Rogers getting to his feet, looking slightly winded. Daisy looks at her feet, not trusting herself not to immediately seek out Phil in all this mess.

“Interrogation room. Now. We’ve put this off too long. Don’t bother cuffing her – those powers look nasty.”

Daisy lets them haul her off the bridge, somehow not surprised by the turn of events. Frankly, she expected it sooner. Maybe it was because Thor and Loki aren’t by her side any longer. That, at least, would make sense.

They put her in an interrogation room and once more, Phil manages to surprise her, stepping inside with Natasha at his side, sitting down while his counterpart prowls.

_This is what Ward and AC did._

“We’ll start with the basics. What’s your name?” Phil asks her.

“We’re wasting our time,” Natasha says before Daisy can answer. “I can get answers out of her.”

“Intimidation won’t work on me,” Daisy informs her. “I got over that a long time ago.”

“How about force?” she questions her then, short and to the point. Daisy shrugs.

“Enough. What’s your name? Why did your Thor call you Quake?”

Daisy shrugs again, looking at all the lines on his face, finding herself missing his face from five years in the future. There are more lines, scars – not to mention, more grey hair.

“May,” she eventually says, thinking of a girl in a van and two living parents who are going to welcome her into their arms and have dinner with her; a father who is going to give her a bouquet of her namesake and a mother who will share a legacy with her. _Daisy Johnson won’t be Skye for long, but if she’s Daisy Johnson, I can’t be her anymore. It’s not fair._

“Daisy Lian May,” she says, for the woman who signed her adoption papers alongside Phil Coulson, who taught her tai chi and made her the agent she is today. _Maybe, when May hears about this, she’ll get a kick out of it, too,_ Daisy thinks, smiling. “I think you know my mom?”


	4. Chapter 4

“So, that was a clusterfuck,” Nick says breezily, as if Melinda isn’t patching up a three-inch cut on Phil’s head from a chunk of fallen Helicarrier ceiling.

“Understatement of the year,” Phil sighs. “We should have trusted Daisy. She told us Barton was coming.”

“We have him in custody, now,” Melinda says quietly. Quake – Daisy Lian May – disturbs her. She’s a possibility of a future, if she really _is_ a time traveller. All the evidence is pointing to it, so far, unless this is some twisted scheme by Loki. _He probably wouldn’t have stayed in his cell, though, if he really was using Barton to get out._ “Romanov took him to medical.”

“What I want to know is who her dad is,” Nick intones. “If she’s telling the truth about being a May, then I want to know who you shack up with.”

Melinda sends the Director a dirty look, Phil rising to her defence, “Hey.”

“That’s my business,” Melinda glares, “ _apparently._ ”

Nick raises his hands, “I just wondered.” His raised hand goes to his ear, “Fury. What is it?” There’s a long moment of silence, before Nick cusses. “Really? _Really?_ And here I thought Captain America was all about being the good guy. Round up the STRIKE Teams on board, send them after them. I want you on the Helicarrier running point in my absence. May and Coulson will go to ground, run point with me for the Avengers and other NYC bodies, if they let us.”

“What happened?” Phil asks.

“Fury out,” Nick lowers his hand, looking exasperated. “The Avengers plus our rag-tag time travellers, Loki and a new rogue wizard-guy just confiscated a quinjet.”

“ _Both_ Loki’s?” Melinda questions, ignoring the _rogue wizard_ comment, because it’s too much for an already hectic day.

“All Asgardian’s on the block and your super-kid, too,” Nick says and if Melinda feels a warmth in that bubble of nerves in her gut at the mention of her ‘kid’, then it’s anticipation for the coming fight, _not_ that her so-called daughter is part of a superhero team.

“And we’re joining them?” Phil asks, eager. “Manhattan?”

“Yeah, you’re going to Manhattan,” Nick says, before grimacing, “and I get the fun job of convincing the World Security Council not to send a goddamn nuke right at you.”

* * *

_ Three Hours Earlier _

Daisy has just moved through her third reset of tai chi movements when the door opens again. She doesn’t look up, but she hears familiar, quiet footsteps that make her tense after a useless moment of forgetting the time and place.

“You’re the kid,” May says, as she breaks off from her movement, standing straight to face her. May searches her face, her features and though she doesn’t make a complete face, her brow furrows slightly in confusion. “What’s your name, again?”

“Daisy,” she says, uneasy. “I didn’t know you were on board.”

“I wasn’t, until ten minutes ago,” May informs her. “King Thor called you ‘Quake’. I assume that’s from your powers – the ones you used on Captain America.”

Daisy winces. “I was having a bad moment. It’s been a horrible last few years.”

“Sounds like it, from your stories.” Her voice is accusing and Daisy’s heart sinks, even though she _knows_ no-one is going to trust her. It still hurts, though. “Why lie like that?”

“I’m not lying,” Daisy says calmly. _I can’t convince her. How could I convince her? Telling her things only she knows would scare her off. I’ll just tell her that._ “I know things – things about you. You’d freak out and I don’t want you to do that, because you’re reckless when you’re angry or scared. Reasonable and badass, but reckless, all the same. Saved my ass too many times to count.”

May raises an eyebrow. “I’m still an active agent in the future?”

“You retire with Phil to live on a desert island. No-one is more surprised than you.”

“…with _Phil?_ Not your mystery father?” May questions, voice odd. Daisy purses her lips. _Yeah, right, go ahead, tell the truth and tell **everyone** how Phil’s your dad in the future._

“My dad died. He was a good man.”

“Phil dies too, according to you.”

“Everyone dies, it’s part of life,” Daisy says, “Too many people I love have died. You’re one of the lucky ones who lived.”

“And then you came back in time and…left me, my future self, alone in the future?”

Daisy squirms in place. “You didn’t want to come. I didn’t blame you. You- May- my _mom_ ,” she swallows, “I miss her so much. I miss her and Phil, I miss Fitzsimmons, I miss Mack and Yo-Yo. God, Bobbie and Hunter, I’ve not seen them in _years_ since that last mission. Tripp died, Ward turned out to be-” she shuts her trap, because that is _too much._

The world is in danger. Hydra _cannot_ be allowed to know she knows.

“Ward turned out to be a psycho with daddy-issues,” she mutters, “and stalker tendencies, who eventually had an ancient Inhuman who’s never heard of the word _consent_ take over his body. The future is fucked up. The future- the future is a _shithole_ and I’m here to change things.”

“You’re here to stop your father from dying,” May corrects her, probably having already been briefed on her outburst in the interrogation room. “You came here out of an egotistical, selfish desire to have it all.”

Daisy clenches her fists, angry and hurt. This isn’t _her_ May, _her_ SO, _her_ mother, but it _still fucking hurts._

“Please don’t,” she grits her teeth. “ _Please_ don’t say that. You- you have no idea what-” _what it’s like to lose your parents, to lose someone this important to you._ Her words cut like knives, reminding her of those first months in the Bus, when May was recovering from Bahrain and getting her mojo back.

… _Bahrain. Shit._

Immediately, Daisy’s anger fades away and an unfortunate pity takes its place. She can’t be angry at this May – this May who is still in shock, mourning her own actions, who killed a child to save everyone else.

“I’m sorry,” she says. _May was going to have kids with Andrew. May doesn’t want them, not anymore and now I’m here, like a punch to the face._ “You- you’re on desk duty right now, right? I’m sorry, I forgot.”

May actually looks shocked at Daisy’s word, but her alarm twists into anger. “How the hell do you know about that?”

“Phil told me,” Daisy says, knowing she’s still known as _the Cavalry._ There’s no way to approach the conversation politely while May is still raw – even _Phil_ can’t soothe this raw wound. “It’s going to get better. I mean, your future is good, except for the end of the world and- and some other shit. Killer robots. Kidnapping, uh…”

_Okay, life **isn’t** so good, but I’m in it, I suppose. There’s the Team and she finally gets to make out with AC…_

Daisy smiles slightly. “You’re my hero,” she says, truthfully and proudly. “You always have been and you always will.”

“Sorry if that doesn’t make me feel better,” May mutters and there’s a long silence before she next speaks. “Daisy Lian May? I name you after my mother?”

“Uh, yeah…” Daisy’s gut twists at the lie, which she tries to hurry past, “though, _Yeye’s_ my favourite, to be honest. We talk a lot over video-chat. William’s great. I mean, I get on with Nana as well – she taught me how to make _jiaozi_ last time I saw her.”

May’s expressions are clear, now, her façade of blankness lost now. It reminds her of May learning about Robin, getting to know the little girl who saw all of time at once. She looks worried, apprehensive and confused, with that tiny spark of genuine awe.

“She still hasn’t taught me how,” she mutters, only a tiny bit put-out, mostly overwhelmed. Her eyes flicker over Daisy’s face again. “Are we related by blood?”

“…no,” Daisy says, eventually. “I’m adopted. I think the day I met you was one of the most important days of my life, though. It marked… _everything_.” It really did, as well – the day SHIELD became more than just some shady government agency, where she assigned names and faces, good hearts and minds. May was the scary lady in black, back then.

“Oh,” May says, the only thing she says. There’s another long silence, before May quietly excuses herself, _fleeing._ Daisy tries not to be disappointed. After a minute of solitude, she sits back down at her interrogation table and waits some more.

The door opens. In enters – surprise, surprise – Tony Stark.

“I wanted to ask you some questions,” he says, staring down at her in a Metallica shirt and what looks to Daisy like an out-of-date suit jacket, but which is probably worth more than Daisy’s complete savings. “Starting off with: what’s Project TAHITI? I looked it up on the SHIELD servers, because I had some free time and there’s nothing. Not a whisper of any resurrection formulas, not a peep.” He looks at her with steady eyes that are far from dead, only partly traumatised and very, very emotional compared to his future self.

“Unfortunately, security isn’t tight enough for me to tell you,” Daisy says truthfully, not wanting anything to get back to Hydra other than what she’s already revealed. Saying it brings people back to life was probably too much as it was. “And even if I wanted to, I really, _really_ wouldn’t recommend it. It’s nasty.”

“How would you know?” Stark prompts.

Daisy gives a grim smile. “I was shot once, when I was younger. Phil went further than anyone else to save me. Too far, maybe. Luckily, being Inhuman means I didn’t suffer the side-effects.”

“You died?”

“I flatlined for something like three minutes,” Daisy says, before changing the subject. “What else do you want to know?”

“What year were you born?”

“Not answering that,” she replies.

Stark leans forwards slightly, itching for answers, “Are people cyborgs in the future?”

“Just the special ones.”

“What about implants? Are they neon?”

“Aren’t they already?”

Stark gets impatient, “What about outer-space travel?”

“Last I heard, you’ve been to another planet and back,” Daisy says. “It’s where you faced Thanos before he ran off to Earth without you to fight the Wakandans and the rest of the Avengers before the Snap.”

“…I faced the Titan? On my own?”

“No, Spiderman was there, too and some others,” Daisy shrugs. “You’re Earth’s Mightiest Defender, though. You were missed when the fighting got big, apparently. I missed the entire thing because I was fighting my own Big Bad at the time.”

“The world doesn’t stop turning for a megalomaniac trying to destroy the universe, obviously,” Tony leans back again, taking out a _pathetically_ old generation of Starkphone. Daisy almost chokes upon seeing it.

“Oh my god, that’s like a _Brick,_ ” she grins, laughing. Stark does a double-take, looking at horror at his own phone.

“This is a Brick? Are you comparing my latest model of Starkphone to a Nokia _Brick?_ ” he demands. “What kind of tech do you have in the future?”

“SP Sixty,” Daisy says, brow furrowing as she looks down at her utility belt, wondering… “Just a second.” She sits up, rummaging around in her pockets, taking out her SP60. “I mean, it’s pretty old, I think there’s at least like, three new ones out-”

Stark snatches it out of her hands, eyes zooming over the black device, shuddering as he cradles it in his hand.

“This is Starktech. I believe you. I can’t- this is _future tech._ How do you turn it on?” he demands, before speaking out loud, “Tony Stark override, September-seven-two.”

To Daisy’s surprise, the phone turns on, Stark flipping it the right way up as the screen blinks blue, the phone AI speaking in Daisy’s preferred female UK voice that reminds her of Jemma.

“ _Outdated override code. Please refer to latest authorisation code, Mr Stark._ ”

“How am I meant to know that?” he questions, the phone replying back.

“ _Authorisation code reminder: the Spider-son’s birthday._ ”

Daisy raises an eyebrow. “Your kid’s birthday? That’s cute, Mr Stark.”

Stark himself looks mortified and hands her phone back quickly. “You’re coming with me, Marty McFly,” he says, stepping back towards the door, opening it up. “Come on.”

Daisy – to her own amusement – finds herself following Stark through the Helicarrier, ending up in a lab where Dr Banner is working.

“Hey, Brucey-boy, check out her gadgets,” Tony says, going over to a computer, picking up a packet of freeze-dried blueberries from a nearby surface. “She’s got a future model of my phone. Or another dimension’s version of it. Whatever – I have a kid, wherever she’s from and hoo-boy, is that a conversation I can’t _wait_ to have with my therapist.”

“Do you even have a therapist?” Dr Banner questions.

“Yes, I do, of course – I can recommend the best, if you ever need someone to talk to. Danga is brilliant.” Stark offers Daisy some blueberries, which she tentatively accepts, digging her hand into the packet to withdraw a small handful. “Anyway. You. Rose Tyler.”

“Apparently I’m more of a Clara Oswald?” Daisy offers, interjecting, remembering Jemma’s Doctor Who commentary.

Stark’s brow furrows. “Clara Oswald? Who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Daisy says honestly. “My best friend watches it, not me.”

“…right. Spoiler alert, there’s going to be a companion called Clara,” Stark says, flipping through the computer screen. “You know, it’s hard to work on our problems when the sceptre isn’t here.”

“Why?”

“We were tracking the gamma ray signature,” Dr Banner says. “To try locate the Tesseract.”

“Oh,” Daisy frowns. “It’s going to be at the Tower, though.”

“We could have intercepted it, though, if we found it earlier,” Stark says. “Change time properly. Obviously it didn’t happen in your timeline, though, so maybe it’s impossible. When is Barton supposed to get here?”

“Don’t know. My dad would have known,” Daisy says, lips twisting. “Thor can’t help much. His sense of time is skewed – same with Loki, though he- she- _Loki,_ Loki’s catty. They probably remember. They’re like Thor, but with better management.”

“Isn’t your Thor a king?”

“Yeah.”

“It must be interesting,” Dr Banner starts, “growing up in a world of superheroes and villains. Alien kings and maniacs.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Daisy agrees, figuring he’s probably right. “The Hawkeye kids had it rough, I heard, with their dad being a superhero.”

Stark pauses, “Hawkeye kids?”

“Lila, Cooper and Nathanial Barton,” Daisy recites. “The Black Widow looks after Nathanial a lot, in my time. He’s the only kid who didn’t get caught up in the Snap, out of the three. He’s a cutie-pie. He was just toddling about, the last time I saw him.”

“Barton has _kids?_ ” Stark mumbles, apparently in shock. “In _plural?_ How does that even work? I thought SHIELD agents weren’t allowed all… _that._ ”

Daisy shrugs, a little uncomfortable. She tries imagining any of the agents in her SHIELD with children and it just doesn’t fit. Their lives are too dangerous – too unpredictable. Governments and Hydra alike would use their families as leverage, if they could. _Mack’s brother was attacked, wasn’t he?_

“Though, there’s you,” Stark continues. “You’re a SHIELD kid.”

“…sort of, yeah, I mean.” Daisy says, her own mystery cover story full of holes. “It’s complicated. I think he already has Lila and Cooper, though the girl might just be a baby or a toddler. Still, he has a family.”

Dr Banner and Stark share a _Look_ , before Stark questions her as she eats her blueberries, “How old were Barton’s kids during the Snap?”

“I don’t know,” Daisy struggles to remember how old they were – it wasn’t like they came up in conversation often. She got a small rundown on Hawkeye’s situation, in the future during her time in the Compound, warned off him. “Ten, or something.”

“This timeline makes no sense,” Stark blurts out. “How old are you in all this?”

“Thirty.”

“And how are you that agent’s kid in her future if this weird Snap happens in ten years, give or take?”

Daisy tenses. _Shit._ Stark looks triumphant yet calculating and Daisy now knows she has to decide: what lies to tell, which truths to unveil.

_It’s not going to matter, in the end. Phil is going to live. Skye is going to reunite with her parents. I’m going to help Thor and Loki hunt down Infinity Stones. This is two thousand and twelve and Iron Man thinks he has until twenty twenty-two, when it’s only in two thousand and eighteen that the Snap happens. I have wiggle room, even if it won’t matter, later. I’ll come clean **later**._

“I grew up in the foster-care system,” she says, voice slightly strangled. “I’m barely an adult, in this time. May’s my mom. Can- can you just take that and leave me be?”

There’s an awkward silence.

“Shit, sorry,” Stark backs down. “I’m really going to up my phone game, then. Wait. _Wait._ I’m going to have a son who’s a teenage superhero- _do I already have a son?_ ” His eyes are panicked and Daisy honestly doesn’t know what to say, raising her blueberry-stained hands and stepping back a pace.

“I don’t know.”

“I already have a son,” he says it with finality. “Oh my god, I need to speak to Pepper.” He reaches for his phone, stomping towards the door, only for Captain America to walk in. “Move out of the way, Capsicle, I’m having a crisis.”

“Your personal crisis shouldn’t take priority right now,” Rogers says, frowning slightly. “How goes the tracking?”

“It’s crap without the sceptre, but trust future-girl’s knowledge – she’s already a teenager in this time period, she lived it,” Stark says, moving to push past him. “Now excuse me, I have to call my girlfriend and try track down my mystery son who I’m apparently going to lose to some monster’s universe-bending hijinks in the future.”

Eyebrows rising, Rogers lets him past, glancing at Banner in confirmation. Dr Banner shrugs, getting back to his work quietly, still obviously listening in as Rogers turns to Daisy.

“Ma’am, security tracked you to here. You should really return to the holding cell.”

“I’m fine here, thanks,” Daisy says. “The Hulk can tag-team with Banner to watch over me.”

“The Hulk doesn’t watch over people,” Rogers disagrees.

“The Hulk lets kids play on him like he’s a jungle-gym,” Daisy says, “and wrestles with ancient Asgardian warriors. The Hulk is capable of more than anyone realises.”

“The Hulk is a mindless beast,” Dr Banner says forcefully, correcting her. “I don’t know what kind of alternate dimension you come from-”

“The future,” Daisy interrupts, “and the Hulk is a person. I saw more of him than I saw of you, when I was in the Avengers Compound. His best friend is the last Valkyrie of Asgard and maybe if you stopped degrading him and actually tried having a conversation with him, you’d live a better life.”

Dr Banner actually looks a little speechless at her words. Daisy straightens in pride, looking at Rogers, grinning a little at the star-spangled banner across his chest.

“Can I get your autograph?” she asks. “Sorry, I’m just- Phil was a _big_ fan and he infected us, I think. He even had his own shield in his fake hand, a hard light hologram one. He made out with my mom behind it once while getting shot at.”

Saying _my mom_ never gets old, for Daisy and telling Captain America about Phil’s SHIELD emblem shield makes her feel giddy on his behalf. Rogers looks kind of surprised.

“Really? He doesn’t seem that…ballsy, excuse my language.”

Daisy laughs, “Dude, Coulson beats bad guys all the time. He’s _amazing_. Totally Avengers material. There’s no SHIELD without him.” Her happiness dies slightly, because she’s repeating her own words, isn’t she? “He _is_ the shield. When he died, he was going to make me Director, but Mack was better at that kind of stuff. I made him change his mind.”

“Your version of him sounds swell,” Rogers admits. “Did he become that, in the future?”

“He was always that,” Daisy says. “He saved me before I knew I needed saving. I owed him _so_ much.”

Rogers tilts his head, suddenly looking very shy. “Ma’am, if you don’t mind…do you know anything about Bucky? The Winter Soldier, I mean.”

“Not much,” Daisy winces. “He disappeared in the Snap. I heard you guys only reunited around that time. A lot I know is rumour and hearsay, because _seriously,_ a lot happens to me in the next few years after the Battle of Manhattan. My life gets tipped upside down and I delete my own identity, like, _twice._ ”

“Why come back, then? Why stop that from happening, if it makes you who you are now?” Rogers questions.

Daisy looks up at the US idol, the supposed personification of America in the flesh. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she feels like a frog is lodged in her throat.

“Because-” she starts and is unable to finish, because the Helicarrier jerks and she’s thrown across the room, lights flashing and the floor caving in.

The attack on the Helicarrier had begun.


End file.
